BUNGALOW residents are angry about losing privacy after a row of two-storey homes was built behind their gardens.

A group of women living in Bettersons Close in Fairford claim their privacy will be gone for good because of the new Bloor Homes development being constructed in Cirencester Road.

Work has been ongoing for 18 months on the 124-home Fairford Gate development, with many of the two-storey properties now occupied.

The residents in Bettersons Close believe Cotswold District Council (CDC) should not have permitted Bloor to build two-storey houses overlooking their gardens.

“One of the reasons I moved here eight years ago was the peace and quiet and the view,” said Di Cox, 66. “Now that’s gone.”

She said she used to enjoy sunsets and see foxes, owls, badgers and other wildlife enjoying the field where the homes have been built.

Her neighbour Liz Morecombe, 24, moved in when work began, yet feels overwhelmed at the huge windows looking down on her garden.

“There’s a five bedroom house behind me so noise is to be expected but I won’t know these people,” she said. “They will be staring into my back garden.”

Liz added: “I’m pro-development and people need somewhere to live but there are privacy issues. We don’t want to live on top of someone else.”

Melba Barnfield, 85, who has lived in her home for 25 years, said she thought it was just too much in too small of a space.

“I think the whole thing is a disgrace,” she said. “I’m not happy at all. The sunsets were gorgeous but now you don’t get enough light.”

There is a strip of unused land between the new development and the Bettersons Close bungalows and Di has asked if trees could be planted there as a barrier between the development.

She claims the district council will only allow the trees to be planted if they are either in her garden or on the Bloor Homes sites, not the strip of land between.

Bloor has planted a hedge on its land.

A spokesman for the council said the houses were not considered to result in loss of privacy to existing residents when its planning committee approved Bloor’s application for the development.

The council said it is aware that the developer has offered to provide some hedges as a barrier between the bungalows and development, even though it is not required to do so.